Ho hum kind of day

It's 2 p.m. the Friday before Labor Day and all is quiet. Nearly half of the forty plus people that work in my department either took the day off or left early. Not me. I'm here until 5:15 p.m. - the only draw back to car pooling. Oh well. I'm saving the world and all that jazz.

I'm listening to the clicking of Tom's keyboard and the four women around me discussing the implications of the NASD and the SEC combining. It's quite distracting. I, quite frankly, don't care. I should. But I don't. It's only going to impact every single one of our communication pieces, because we'll have to update the stupid disclosures. I hate disclosures. Some days I hate my job. It's been a tough week.

Three day weekend here I come…

We're heading over to Cedar Rapids tonight to hang out with my siblings and cousin. I just decided we should have an impromtu birthday party for my sister who turns 24? I think next Wednesday. Saturday we'll head up to my mom and dad's. Ryan and my brother are going four-wheeling. Should be fun. Not sure what I'll do the rest of the weekend.

Random thought for all you who went to HS with me… Justin Wendt works here. Ran into him in the skywalk this a.m. Said hi but didn't get a chance to talk much as I was on my way to a meeting. Apparently there are a couple other fellow Starmontians that work here as well...

back to school shopping

This weekend I went shopping with Ryan's family. The trip was spurred by the need of my sisters-in-law to go back to school shopping for our niece and nephews. The two boys, who are starting first grade this year, preferred to stay home. Our niece however has been a shop-a-holic since she could speak. I swear her first word was Wal-Mart.

It was interesting. Watching her sort through the racks, picking out what she liked and discarding the rest. We decided if she was a Spice Girl, she would definitely be Sporty Spice. She's not into pink or frills and lace. A girl after my own heart. But picky! Let me tell you. However knowing exactly what she wants will treat her well in the future.

Her mom picked out a few things and asked if I would give them to her - because anything she suggested was rejected. Honestly, I think my niece just felt more comfortable telling her mom the shirt was hideous, whereas she was humored her aunts a little more. Which to me says she's a very polite, mature almost-sixth-grader.

And to complicate things, she's in that in-between stage. Where she's just a little too big for the little girls section, but a little too small for the juniors department. That's always tough.

After six hours - stopping only for a brief half hour lunch in the food court - we called it quits. All in all - a successful shopping trip. I got some cute summer stuff on clearence and slept really well that night.

Not the same

I have really great memories of the county fair back home. 4-H judging, share the fun, water fights, rope pulls, carnival rides, chocolate chip mint shakes... It was always a terrific end to the summer when I was kid. And of course, my county fair was the best fair ever!

Ryan and I were back home for my grandparents anniversary party this weekend and stopped at my county fair. As I watched the truck pull, wandered around the barns, saw my cousin's prize winning chickens and slurped my chocolate chip mint shake... I couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. The fun had fizzled.

Course it didn't help when Ryan kept saying stuff like "This is it?" "I thought it'd be bigger." After all, his county fair is the best ever - even though he wasn't a 4-Her and only went to his county fair twice in his life.

Maybe it would have been different had my fellow Woody Woody Gopher Ducks been there. Perhaps it's not the location, but the people that made it memorable.

They would have appreciated the million blue-ribbon pictures of sunsets and touring the freebie building.